Starting in 1887 there will be many letters between Anna and Ashley Carlisle. Ashley was a stone mason and often worked far from home. I wish I knew how he learned the trade. His father was a farmer and an inn keeper and I have found no other reference to a stone mason in the family before or since.
When I visited Buchanan, MI with my mother several years ago my uncle was well enough to show me several examples of Ashley's work. This is a monument he made in Oakridge Cemetery, Buchanan, MI.
My uncle told me that Ashley also worked on the Studebaker Mansion in South Bend, IN. The fact that he worked on this project is such a matter of family pride that it was also mentioned in
Anna's obituary.
Mrs. Carlisle was the widow of the late Civil war veteran, Ashley Carlisle, a stone mason who cut the stone for the mansions of the Studebaker and Oliver families at South Bend and Elkhart, Ind., and walked home from these cities to spend Sundays. There being no other conveyance at hand, Mr. Carlisle walked 25 miles from Elkhart and 15 miles from South Bend whenever he was working in those places and thought nothing of it.
So why was this such a big deal? My jaw dropped when I first saw pictures of the Studebaker Mansion which is named Tippecanoe Place. My great-grandfather built that! (I will admit that he must have had a bit of help.)
Clement Studebaker, with his brothers, founded H & C Studebaker Company which built conestoga wagons. By 1887 sales surpassed $2 million. Clement certainly had the means to build a mansion. Architect Henry Ives Cobb's design was in the Romanesque Rival style, a style rarely used for private residences. The mansion has 40 rooms, 20 fireplaces and is 26,000 sq.ft. Construction was begun in 1886 and completed in 1889 at a cost of $250,000. Local granite field stone was used (Ashley tells of work blasting), there are stone pillars and tile flooring on the porches. Fire struck and heavily damaged the home very shortly after completion, October 1889, but it was repaired.
There are two theories as to why it was named Tippecanoe Place. It may have been to honor his friend, Benjamin Harrison, grandson of president William Henry Harrison of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" fame. Another theory is that the mansion is built on the site of a favorite camp ground of Miami Indian Chief, Tippecanoe.
The mansion passed out of the Studebaker family during the
Depression and has been used by the Red Cross, as a school for the handicapped and as an historical museum. It is now the
Tippecanoe Place Restaurant and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
I don't know when Ashley was hired to work on the mansion but I suspect it was very early. I know he was staying with his brother-in-law, Joseph Camfield, in South Bend as early as February 1887. In May 1887 he was still working on the basement. It is clear from the letters that Ashley did not return home to Buchanan every weekend as stated in Anna's obituary. I am unable to be certain but I believe that Ashley worked on the project until the stone work was completed. In May of 1889 he wrote that he was looking for work.
I want to thank
Joe Ross for making his wonderful photographs available at Flickr with a Creative Commons license.
Sources
Photographs
Monument, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Buchanan, MI; digital image from original photograph, privately held by Apple, [Address for private use], 2009.
Tippecanoe Place, South Bend, IN, Wikipedia Commons, Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-October-15, Public Domain, viewed 26 November 2008
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:South-bend-indiana-tippecanoe-place.jpg]
Rear view, Tippecanoe Place, South Bend, IN, Joe Ross, flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic, downloaded 26 November 2008.
[http://flickr.com/photos/joeross/2251890074/in/set-72157603873006908/]
Side view, Tippecanoe Place, South Bend, IN, Joe Ross, flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic, downloaded 26 November 2008.
[http://flickr.com/photos/joeross/2251883364/in/set-72157603873006908/]
Entrance arch, Tippecanoe Place, South Bend, IN, Joe Ross, flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic, downloaded 26 November 2008.
[http://flickr.com/photos/joeross/2251886892/in/set-72157603873006908/]
Carriage arch, Tippecanoe Place, South Bend, IN, Joe Ross, flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic, downloaded 26 November 2008.
[http://flickr.com/photos/joeross/2251091535/in/set-72157603873006908/]
Websites
Wikipedia, Clement Studebaker, viewed 26 November 2008.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Studebaker],
Historic Preservation Council, South Bend & St Jospeh County, Indiana, "A Walk Along West Washington", brochure, pdf file, viewed 26 November 2008, [www.downtownsouthbend.com/rsrc/livingdowntown/west-wash-walking-tour.pdf]
Tippecanoe Place Restaurant, South Bend, IN, viewed 26 November 2008
[http://www.tippe.com/index.html]
[http://www.tippe.com/history.html]
Newpaper
Obituary of Sarah Ann Carlisle, News Palladium, Benton Harbor, MI, Thursday, June 26, 1930, page 24, column 4, clipping, held by Apple, [Address for private use], 2009
Letters
Carlisle, Anna Camfield. (Buchanan, MI) to “Dear Ashley”
[Isaac Ashley Carlisle]. Letter. 3 February 1887. Digital Images 1-3.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2009.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1887 - 1889,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
Carlisle, Isaac Ashley. (South Bend, IN) to “Dear wife and Children”
[Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 1 May 1887. Digital Images 1-2.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2009.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1887 - 1889,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
Carlisle, Isaac Ashley. (South Bend, IN) “well I told Orville”
[Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 4 May 1889. Digital Images 1-4.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2009.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1887 - 1889,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
I think Ashley is saying that he found work at Studebaker's. His brother Orville has been released from the hospital. He may be doing work at Ashley and Anna's to repay them for a loan they made him while he was recovering.
